On Wed, 26 May 2010 14:53:45 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On May 26, 4:02*pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On May 26, 9:42*am, Peter wrote:





On 5/26/2010 12:10 PM, harry wrote:

On May 26, 10:51 am, "Ed *wrote:
*wrote

How do you know it's not true as your gov. won't let you go and see
for yourself? Cuban health care is free to everyone. Even you if you
could get there.
You are another of the brainwashed.

At any given time, there are hundreds of US citizens in Cuba. Have a good
reason t go, fill out the forms, and you get permission. There is a also a
difference between free and good.

So, you need permission? *On what grounds might that permission be
rejected? *Why should you need permission anyway?

It's true. *It is illegal for the average U.S. private citizen to travel to Cuba
(e.g. for tourism) without explicit permission from the Department of State.
It's a legacy from the American foreign policy towards Cuba (part of the
blockade mentality) that was implemented in the early 1960s, after the failed
Bay of Pigs invasion. *Isn't it great how often we in this country (U.S.A.)
complain officially (at the U.N. and Dept. of State) and unofficially about
other country's foreign policies being stuck in the past? *Time for us to look
in the mirror and realize that we can be hypocritical too.

My understanding is that one can travel to Cuba but one cannot spend
money
there.

One travels via Toronto or a Mexican city. *Buy one ticket to that
destination and
a new ticket to Cuba.

Had a wonderful trip, met the kindest, nicest people, *everyone spoke
freely
(I speak passable Spanish), saw the austere standard of living; the
stores
where rations are distributed by coupons, the ancient autos, etc. But
such wonderful people!

You also have to respect Cuban medicine for taking care of ALL the
population, not just those who can afford insurance, despite the
strictures
places on doctors and supplies and technology *by U.S. boycotts.

I read a LOT after returning, including the memoirs of Cuban resisters
who got out, and wrote understandably bitter accounts.

All these years of enforcing poverty on the Cuban PEOPLE as opposed to
the "Communist" government, would have been unnecessary had the
U.S. govt. not been so eager to kiss the *** of the Miami exiles who
never
got over having their property confiscated and their families
brutalized.


You act as if that is an easy thing that one should just "get over".
The fact is, besides brutalizing the Cuban people and seizing their
private property, Castro seized and nationalized billions worth of
property owned by US interests. And he hasn't been exactly bending
over backwards to either right that wrong or seek a more favorable
relationship with the US.



I remember how that happened. They Cubans asked the foreign companies
to pay taxes on the value of their Cuban holdings, and were lowballed
of course. So Castro offered to buy the companies at the value they
themselves set. They refused of course, so Castro just took them.

After decades of ripping off the Cuban people under the Batista
dictatorship (supported by the democracy loving USA), I have no
problem with Castro doing what he did.